RTC Fin Damage Questions

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TheFishGuy

Candiru
MFK Member
May 8, 2006
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North east Ohio
www.monsterfishrescue.com
I rescued this guy about four weeks ago. He's seven years old (or so I was told) and has lived his life in a 125 gallon tank. He's 22" long and after a bout of not eating and acting like he was going to die he's sprung to life. Three out of four of his lower barbels are starting to grow back from literally being rubbed off, his ribs are starting to become harder and harder to see since he's starting to eat like a pig and he's much more active, redily taking fish fillets from my hand and he's now first in line when it's chow time. He's currently housed in an 800 gallon aquarium with two TSN, a channel cat and a few (20 or so) CA/SA cichlids. For the moment it seems he could care less about the smaller fish and wants to be fed by hand. It's my fault because I tend tto spoil fish:screwy:

Here's my question. I know full well that juvinile fish often regenerate lost fins or torn fins rather quickly. I'm wondering if this guy will ever grow his fins back. When watching him for a few minutes when he was in the 125 he would drag his caudal fin on the bottom of the tank begging for food. In the pictures you'll see that both of his pectoral hard rays have been broken and his caudal fin (lower half) has been rubbed off. Do you all think his fins are too far gone to re-grow or possibly too old to re-grow them back? Like I said, he's slowly starting to put on some weight and he seems to be in good spirits so that's not an issue. Also his pelvic or ventral fins have been worn down along with his anal fin...

Opinions?

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I don't have much experienced with larger sized cats (yet) so I can't really tell you how long or if his fins will entirely grow back but I think if the barbel are growing in his fins will probably soon follow... but it might take a while and be dis formed when finish... But he sure is luck to have you man :headbang2 now he's got a great home to live in even if he's never as pretty as "show quality" I'm sure he'll still make a fine pet;)
 
if the fins are still visible outside the skin they should grow back in time. I rescued some channel catfish that had no fins or barbells whatsoever, and after 3 months all their fins and most of their barbells had grown back. About another month after that I started to notice that they were growing again, but they did not grow while their fins were comming back in. Although these were small channels, I have many large catfish and their fins always seem to grow back so long as you can still see part of them. If the soft rays have deteriorated beneath the skin you may be at a loss for fins. I currently have a tsn that has no pelvic fins, he was like this when I bought him at 3" long, and he is currently 13" long with no sign of pelvic fins. It's just sad that he's in that state. Hopefully he will do fine. As for the hard rays they will grow, but they will be severely crooked and the points may never grow back. Good luck and I hope this helps. it's just a waiting game on the fins. Keep us posted.
 
took another look at your pics. Looks like he might have a severe case of popeye also? Not sure might just be the way they look in the pic.
 
necrocanis;818798; said:
took another look at your pics. Looks like he might have a severe case of popeye also? Not sure might just be the way they look in the pic.
Click to expand...

I kind of wondered the same thing about pop eye but they're both out the exact same... He ate again today, I'm feeding him every other day (small amounts) so he can get fattened up. When I feel he's ready then he can feed like the other two... Gorge then fast.....
 
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